Woman destroys her gun in wake of Florida high school shooting

Amanda Meyer, originally from Strawberry Point, Iowa, filmed herself destroying a gun in response to the mass shooting that happened at a Florida high school. Meyer said she grew up around guns and that her parents always emphasized gun safety. Sh

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Amanda Meyer, originally from Strawberry Point, Iowa, filmed herself destroying a gun in response to the mass shooting that happened at a Florida high school. Meyer said she grew up around guns and that her parents always emphasized gun safety. Sh

Amanda Meyer told the Hartford Courant she’d been wanting to get rid of her gun, but was having a hard time going through with it.

Then the shooting in Parkland, Florida happened.

“I said enough is enough,” Meyer told the newspaper.

Police say Nikolas Cruz, 19, walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High and fatally shot 17 people last Wednesday. He is facing 17 counts of premeditated murder and could face the death penalty, the Miami Herald reported.

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So Meyer decided it was finally time to “make sure there is one less gun in the world,” according to the Courant.

A video posted to Facebook Friday shows Meyer use an angle grinder to hack her weapon into pieces. Meyer described the firearm as a Sig Sauer P229 handgun and herself as a legal, responsible gun owner.

Meyer says in the video that she’s been touched by gun violence. Her brother shot and killed himself, and the Sandy Hook massacre — which killed 20 children and six educators in 2012 —happened about 20 miles from where she was teaching, she said. Meyer currently lives in New Haven, Connecticut, according to her Facebook page.

Her cousin and his wife were at the concert in Las Vegas, but left before Stephen Paddock started shooting, Meyer said.

She could have sold her gun, but she’d have “no way of knowing” if it ended up in the wrong hands, Meyer said in the video.

"Over time, the gun becomes part of your identity and it's harder to get out of it than you think. It takes over your life. I was feeling uncomfortable for my morality and no longer wanted to participate in the gun culture,” she said.

She added that she’s not against using a shotgun for hunting, but doesn’t think people need semi-automatic weapons.

Some commenters said destroying the gun could make it harder for Meyer to defend herself. But she told CNN she now believes people are "more likely to get injured in self-defense situations, than not."

The Florida shooting also spurred an area assault rifle owner to surrender his weapon, The Miami Herald reported. Ben Dickmann wrote in a Facebook post that he “could have easily sold” his rifle, but “no person needs this.” He added that he wants to lead by example.